I am a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the Varieties of Democracy Project at the University Of Gothenburg, Sweden. I received my PhD in political science from Emory University.

Research Interests

My research focuses on four topics: state building in insurgencies, rebel/insurgent mobilization, the political economy of development in conflict settings, and how international market conditions affect conflict dynamics. My research aims to assess the economic and political drivers of conflict. The goal is to provide practical, empirically-based interventions to address important policies and problems. To evaluate the theories I advance, I use a number of different research design solutions, including elite interviews, field experiments, surveys, geographical information systems, and Bayesian methodology such as latent variable and diffusion models. My use of a diverse set of methodological tools reflects the importance I place on empirical rigor and pluralism, my belief that the question should determine the method of analysis, and that researchers should link micro-level processes to broader macro-level theories and policy platforms.

Dissertation

As a US Army Psychological Operations soldier in Afghanistan and Iraq, one of my tasks was to assess how US military and development operations might influence the support preferences of the local population. Arguing that an extensive road network would improve the economic conditions of an area and the government's ability to secure the population, and thus, increase popular support for the government, the US military saw road development as an important counterinsurgency tool. Focusing on the relationship between counterinsurgency security operations and the support preference of the noncombatant population, my dissertation assesses this relationship directly.

Specifically, in my dissertation, I posit that the political goals of the insurgency---territorial (secession) versus governmental (state-capture)---and the general narrative framing device insurgent political entrepreneurs use to mobilize the population---appeals to a shared social identity or to a distinct political ideology---influences how noncombatants perceive that actions of counter-insurgents and the intent of counterinsurgency operations. This, in turn, can affect the willingness of noncombatants to express support for the government, given an increased presence of counter-insurgents. I argue that in governmental/political ideology conflicts, an increased presence of counter-insurgents helps the government stabilize an area and improve economic conditions, increasing noncombatant support for the government. However, in territorial/social identity conflicts, an increased presence of counter-insurgents helps validate in-group/out-group mobilization appeals, facilitating ethnic outbidding, strengthening self-determination demands, and pushing noncombatant support away from the government.

The multiple insurgent conflicts in India make it an ideal case to test this theory. My dissertation focuses on rural villages within two conflict areas: the districts of Assam that are contested by a territorial/social identity group, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, and the districts in the southern portion of Bihar where a governmental/political ideology insurgent group, the Communist Party of India -- Maoist, is active. I leveraged the allocation procedures of government of India's rural roads development scheme, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), in a survey-based research design that allowed me to assess (1) whether the expansion of a rural road network increases the probability that counter-insurgents patrolled through an area and (2) how an increased presence of counter-insurgents in an area affects the willingness of the population to express support for the government.

In brief, I drew a random sample of villages with populations just below (230 to 249) and just above (250 to 270) the 250-person population threshold a village had to surpass to receive a PMGSY road. Similar to a regression-discontinuity design, this allowed me to survey villages that did and did not receive a road but had a similar probability of being awarded one. To measure the presence of and popular support for the government in these villages, I developed a household survey and a village leader semi-structured interview template. From April to June 2015, I traveled to Assam to field my initial survey in 71 villages across this territorial/social identity insurgent conflict area, and between June and August 2016, I conducted my second survey in 124 villages in the governmental/political ideology insurgent conflict areas of Bihar, India. Financial support from the National Science Foundation made this fieldwork possible.

Data from these village-level surveys provide support for my theory. Road development increases the probability that counter-insurgents will patrol through an area, and common conflict dynamics (whether it a territorial/social identity conflict or a governmental/political ideology conflict) can condition the effect these presence patrols have on noncombatant support. That is, in the governmental/political ideology conflict areas in Bihar, noncombatants are more likely to express support for the government as the presence of counter-insurgents increases. However, in the territorial/social identity insurgent conflict in Assam, the probability that a village will express support for the government decreases as the presence of state security forces increases.

Last updated: 09/22/2018

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